As hubs of learning, networking, mentorship, and
creativity, colleges and universities provide particularly fertile ground for
the cultivation of world-changing, entrepreneurial ideas. The report
released today, which is based on more than 130 interviews with
university leaders and builds on prior work by the National Advisory Council on Innovation and
Entrepreneurship, highlights more than 50 of the most promising initiatives that
have sprouted up on campuses across the country, including those that promote
entrepreneurship among students and faculty; accelerate the transition of
research innovations from the lab to the marketplace; and encourage engagement
between universities, industry partners, and regional economies.

Of course, because America’s university-based entrepreneurship ecosystem is
rapidly expanding and constantly evolving, no single report can capture every
promising idea worth replicating. That’s why today, an extraordinary team of
undergraduates has launched a new online University Innovation
platform through which students can share information about on-campus
entrepreneurship programs rapidly and effectively—including what works, what
doesn’t, and what’s needed. This public, wiki-editable platform is a special
project of Epicenter,
a national hub for entrepreneurship and engineering education funded by the
National Science Foundation.

Through Epicenter, more than 60 engineering majors from across the Nation
have been selected as University Innovation Fellows, with a mission to catalyze more
entrepreneurial activity on their respective campuses. These Fellows built the
University
Innovation platform to empower student leaders to survey entrepreneurship
programs at their own schools, check out what’s going on at other schools, and
organize fellow students around the most compelling and successful models.

In his proclamation
of this year’s National Entrepreneurship Month, President Obama said:

"Our Nation is strongest when we broaden entrepreneurial opportunity, when more
of us can test our ideas in the global marketplace, and when the best
innovations can rise to the top. We all have a role to play -- from colleges and
universities that cultivate hubs of innovation, to large companies that
collaborate with small businesses, to foundations that support both social
enterprises and high-impact startups seeking to solve the grand challenges of
our time.”

America’s universities and student entrepreneurs are clearly an important
part of this all-hands-on-deck effort. Throughout November, and in recognition
of National Entrepreneurs’ Day (November 22), OSTP will highlight exciting
examples of students leading this entrepreneurial charge.

I think it is essential for the government to take a role in helping start-ups. They are builders of our economy, but it is also undeniable that the government has a big role in supporting technological innovation.

The government can accumulate capital and fund vital research that may not have immediate economic implications. This research can help start-ups spur technological innovation.

So it's important that both governments and private companies have a role in promoting economic and technological innovation.